I just got my Velvet Chain parcel in the mail yesterday. And boy am I impressed!

I first heard this indie band in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when we were marathoning the very first season on DVD. Velvet Chain plays two songs at the Bronze in episode Never Kill a Boy on the First Date and they got me spellbound. As soon as I got on my ‘puter I looked up the music, finding the info I needed in trusty BuffyGuide.com.

Now, this was quite a few years ago: Napster was still up and running and web buying was somewhat complicated especially when we’re talking an indie band. After determining that I had no access to buying the CDs, I treated the craving created by the free mp3 files the band offered on their homepage with the additional ones I found via Napster. But I really would’ve liked to buy the albums.

A couple of weeks ago I happened to look up Velvet Chain in iTunes and what do you know, their album Warm was up. I bought it right away and then headed for the band site to see what they’re up these days. Wow, I thought, they’re selling their albums and delivering all around the world, too.

I placed an order for the spiffy VivaLaDiva deluxe package containing the albums The Buffy EP, Moody Groove Music, Asteroid Belt and Velvet Chain Live plus some “sälpe”: an extra CD Erika’s Mix (autographed CD of the singer’s favourite Velvet Chain songs), an autographed poster of Erika and a metal keychain depicting the Velvet Chain diva. In addition to these things listed on the website, to my suprise and delight, my parcel also contained another (6th!) CD Instrumentals and Themes, which boldly says “Unreleased Velvet Chain material, this private copy produced for Maria Laine” ^_^ and a bunch of Velvet Chain stickers. (As an additional consideration the price of the whole bunch was marked on the parcel “nicely” and I needed no trip to customs.)

Velvet Chain still offers free full mp3 files of some of their songs and clips of album content, do check them out! And then buy their albums. You’ll get some damn fine sounds and support indie music while you’re at it. And the prices are reasonable, too. And check this out, you can even buy your very own Velvet Chain compilation album, created with the songs you pick!

This here is Moira seal of approval.